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Lot Essay
Breakfast in the open, or Under the birches, was executed in the summer of 1910 at 'Bullerholmen', a small island opposite the Larsson home Lilla Hyttnäs (little furnace point) at Sundborn, north-west of Stockholm in the province of Dalarna. A present from Karin's father in 1888, the Larssons used the house as a summer residence until 1901 when they moved in. From this time, Larsson's watercolours form an idealised image of idyllic country life that is centred almost entirely on depictions of his family at Lilla Hyttnäs, visible in the background of the present work at the left of the composition.
Carl and Karin's improvements and decoration of their home, so fully documented by Carl's work, has become a stylistic model that has greatly influenced Swedish domestic design and national consciousness. 'But Lilla Hyttnäs was more than just architecture and decoration, it was a whole way of life, informal and family centred. For this the Larssons consciously created a middle-class town-dweller's idyll of the healthy country life: they took up a number of local customs, like boating and crayfishing, and added some of their own, like habitually eating outside. After the publication of the Ett hem watercolours the Larsson's vision of summer came to be adopted by the whole of Sweden' (M. Snodin, Carl and Karin Larsson, Creators of the Swedish style, London 1997, p. 3). Like Breakfast under the big birch in the National Museum of Fine Art in Stockholm (fig. 2), Breakfast in the open forms an image of mealtime that has come to symbolise summer and helped form a tradition of al fresco dining in Sweden.
In Larsson's harmonious depiction of man's place within nature, one can recognise the same visionary character of Swedish landscape painting that is epitomised by Richard Bergh's Nordic Summer Evening from 1899-1900 (fig. 4). Indeed, Lisbeth's introspective and serene detachment from the activity around her in Breakfast in the open recalls that of Bergh's female figure as she leans elegantly against the post of the balcony. 'To depict our [Swedish] nature it is not enough to open our eyes to it; the artist must also be prepared to close his eyes sometimes; he must be able to dream of what he has seen, to understand and listen to his own feelings, and with their help to apprehend the unity that lives within the shifting multiplicity...' (R. Bergh, 'Karl Nordström och det nordiska stämningslandskapet', 1896, Om konst och annat, I, Stockholm 1919, p. 123). Larsson's use of strong colours and sharp outlines creates a clarity to his depiction of summer light and instils an expectancy and stillness that is again reminiscent of Bergh's iconic image of a Nordic summer evening.
The present work is a version of the monumental painting of the same title in the Norrköping Konstmuseum, Sweden (Neergaard 1383; fig. 1). Dated 1910-1913, the oil was first exhibited in Rome in 1911 as La festa campestre and is alternatively known as Between the white trunks. There are several studies extant of different parts of the composition dating from the summer of 1910 which demonstrate the importance Larsson ascribed to this work, but aside from the version in Norrköping, the present picture would appear to be the fullest working of the entire subject. In certain parts one can see the grid that Larsson used to transfer the composition to a larger scale. The final version in oil was completed in the Autumn of 1910, although Larsson continued to make alterations until 1913, such as adding the red chairs and the dog and deleting a plate of crayfish, which is visible in the present watercolour on the table at the left.
Breakfast in the open depicts the Larssons' fourth child Lisbeth, aged 19, leaning dreamily against a silver birch tree. Larsson completed at least two studies for Lisbeth in oil (fig. 3) and has imbued the present watercolour with a languid elegance well suited to the translucency of his preferred medium. Seated on the bench is Larsson's son Pontus, while his daughters Brita and Suzanne stand by the table, the latter in a fashionable hat. Karin, Larsson's wife, is standing in the central background tending the fire but interestingly is omitted from the final oil in Norrköping. In the final, monumental work, which measures 197 x 407 cm., 10 year old Esbjörn is seated in the foreground, listening attentively to the musicians seated by the central birch. The present version, without the musicians and the boy, focuses attention more on the Larsson family and, specifically, on the figure of Lisbeth, setting her apart from the activity beyond.
We are grateful to Ulwa Neergaard for her kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.
Carl and Karin's improvements and decoration of their home, so fully documented by Carl's work, has become a stylistic model that has greatly influenced Swedish domestic design and national consciousness. 'But Lilla Hyttnäs was more than just architecture and decoration, it was a whole way of life, informal and family centred. For this the Larssons consciously created a middle-class town-dweller's idyll of the healthy country life: they took up a number of local customs, like boating and crayfishing, and added some of their own, like habitually eating outside. After the publication of the Ett hem watercolours the Larsson's vision of summer came to be adopted by the whole of Sweden' (M. Snodin, Carl and Karin Larsson, Creators of the Swedish style, London 1997, p. 3). Like Breakfast under the big birch in the National Museum of Fine Art in Stockholm (fig. 2), Breakfast in the open forms an image of mealtime that has come to symbolise summer and helped form a tradition of al fresco dining in Sweden.
In Larsson's harmonious depiction of man's place within nature, one can recognise the same visionary character of Swedish landscape painting that is epitomised by Richard Bergh's Nordic Summer Evening from 1899-1900 (fig. 4). Indeed, Lisbeth's introspective and serene detachment from the activity around her in Breakfast in the open recalls that of Bergh's female figure as she leans elegantly against the post of the balcony. 'To depict our [Swedish] nature it is not enough to open our eyes to it; the artist must also be prepared to close his eyes sometimes; he must be able to dream of what he has seen, to understand and listen to his own feelings, and with their help to apprehend the unity that lives within the shifting multiplicity...' (R. Bergh, 'Karl Nordström och det nordiska stämningslandskapet', 1896, Om konst och annat, I, Stockholm 1919, p. 123). Larsson's use of strong colours and sharp outlines creates a clarity to his depiction of summer light and instils an expectancy and stillness that is again reminiscent of Bergh's iconic image of a Nordic summer evening.
The present work is a version of the monumental painting of the same title in the Norrköping Konstmuseum, Sweden (Neergaard 1383; fig. 1). Dated 1910-1913, the oil was first exhibited in Rome in 1911 as La festa campestre and is alternatively known as Between the white trunks. There are several studies extant of different parts of the composition dating from the summer of 1910 which demonstrate the importance Larsson ascribed to this work, but aside from the version in Norrköping, the present picture would appear to be the fullest working of the entire subject. In certain parts one can see the grid that Larsson used to transfer the composition to a larger scale. The final version in oil was completed in the Autumn of 1910, although Larsson continued to make alterations until 1913, such as adding the red chairs and the dog and deleting a plate of crayfish, which is visible in the present watercolour on the table at the left.
Breakfast in the open depicts the Larssons' fourth child Lisbeth, aged 19, leaning dreamily against a silver birch tree. Larsson completed at least two studies for Lisbeth in oil (fig. 3) and has imbued the present watercolour with a languid elegance well suited to the translucency of his preferred medium. Seated on the bench is Larsson's son Pontus, while his daughters Brita and Suzanne stand by the table, the latter in a fashionable hat. Karin, Larsson's wife, is standing in the central background tending the fire but interestingly is omitted from the final oil in Norrköping. In the final, monumental work, which measures 197 x 407 cm., 10 year old Esbjörn is seated in the foreground, listening attentively to the musicians seated by the central birch. The present version, without the musicians and the boy, focuses attention more on the Larsson family and, specifically, on the figure of Lisbeth, setting her apart from the activity beyond.
We are grateful to Ulwa Neergaard for her kind assistance in cataloguing this lot.